Tamil Eelam

ARTICLES ABOUT TAMIL EELAM BY DATE - PAGE 3

Brazil Some of the worst flooding in decades has swamped the tropical northeast and driven a quarter-million people from their homes, mostly in Piaui and Maranhao states. Authorities expect it will take a few more weeks for the floodwaters to recede because of continuing rains. Large areas of the states remain inundated. France Three British women were attacked by thousands of bees, and one was stung 500 times at an art gallery in Moulidars, near the town of Cognac. All three women were hospitalized but recovered.

Suicide bombers rammed a truck laden with explosives into a Sri Lankan naval bus convoy Monday, killing 97 people and injuring more than 100 others days before peace talks scheduled between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Most of the dead were sailors about to start vacation leave after serving in the violence-racked east. Some civilians also were believed to be among the people killed in the attack, which occurred near the town of Habarana in the center of this embattled island.

Chicago congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law-enforcement sources said. Davis' seven-day trip came under scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to aid the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.

In the worst fighting since a 2002 cease-fire, ethnic rebels advanced toward Sri Lanka's strategic Jaffna peninsula on Saturday as government jets bombed rebel positions and truce monitors were told to stay away. The military said it had lost 27 soldiers and killed 100 rebels. No casualty figures were offered by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The group's spokesman said its troops had broken through the government's northern forward defense line at Muhamalai, effectively dragging the long-ravaged Jaffna peninsula back into the thick of war. Jaffna--currently in government control but under the influence of the Tamil Tigers--is possibly the most important prize in this war, strategically and symbolically.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a car carrying a top Sri Lankan general Monday, killing the military officer and three others, officials said. Authorities quickly blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the blast. "This is the work of the LTTE," Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Maj. Gen. Parami Kulatunga, the third-highest-ranking officer in Sri Lanka's military, was attacked as he was being taken to work in Colombo.

Government forces bombed rebel Tamil Tiger positions Thursday after two powerful mines ripped apart a civilian bus and killed 64 people in the deadliest attack since the two parties declared a truce four years ago. The violence heightened fears of a return to civil war in this island nation, despite both sides' insistence that their official cease-fire agreement remained in effect. Keheliya Rambukwella, a government defense spokesman, stressed that there was no formal resumption of hostilities but added, "We will have to take a serious relook at the agreement owing to the attack."

One could be forgiven for thinking Sri Lanka is at war. On Tuesday, a land mine killed 11 soldiers on the northern Jaffna peninsula, and a policeman was killed patrolling the eastern town of Kalmunai. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, ethnic separatists who want their own homeland in the north and east, were blamed for both attacks. Early Sunday, a pro-rebel legislator was assassinated during Christmas mass at a Roman Catholic church in Batticaloa, on the east coast; Tamil Tigers ascribed the killing to pro-government militias.

In a second precision attack on the Sri Lankan army in three days, two explosive devices, strapped to trees along the side of a road, struck a military tractor Tuesday, killing seven soldiers and sharply raising alarm over the prospect of renewed conflict. The attack on the soldiers, who had just finished delivering lunch to troops stationed at checkpoints along the peninsula, occurred two days after a land mine attack on another army tractor nearby, which killed seven soldiers.

In a surprise move, Sri Lanka's president suspended parliament Tuesday, fired three government ministers and deployed troops at key buildings in the capital, Colombo, the state-run news media reported. The moves sparked a political crisis in the island nation and fueled fears that a 2-year-old cease-fire between government forces and ethnic Tamil rebels would collapse. Sri Lankan political analysts said President Chandrika Kumaratunga appears to be trying to weaken her bitter political rival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.